Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge/Walkway Over the Hudson, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Considered an engineering marvel when built in 1889, the 1.2-mi Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge had burned and fallen into disrepair after 85 years of carrying commuter and freight traffic 200-ft above the Hudson River. Years passed before the nonprofit organization Walkway Over the Hudson stepped forward with plans to provide public access to the bridge in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., succeeding in transforming the structure into a New York State historic park in time for the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson sailing up the river that now bears his name.
“[The project] took something that was a very important structure 120 years ago and went into complete decay and resurrected it for public benefit,” says Malcolm G. McLaren, president and CEO of McLaren Engineering Group of West Nyack, N.Y.